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“I’m game.” I glanced at Rachel.
Her expression turned grim. “I can’t. I’ve to stay here through lunch, but you two go and have a good visit.”
“Fine.” My sister stepped closer but didn’t bother to whisper. “I want to hear all about it later though when he’s not around.” Her voice turned sour at the mention of me, and she curled her nose playfully as if to say yuck.
Rachel gave me an accusing glare, and I shook my head. “Oh no, don’t give me that look, I didn’t tell her a thing.”
“He didn’t have to. The two of you are practically glowing.” She turned to Rachel and took another hug and then stepped back to me locking her arm. “We’ve got to be going, are you sure you can’t come?”
“I’m positive.” She gave me a sad look, and though we’d agreed not to put our relationship on display at work, I stepped closer, and instead of whispering in her ear, I gave her a little kiss. Her cheeks flared, and she glanced around, but only her assistant saw, and he pulled his lips in tight as if to hide his own smile.
Shauna didn’t pry me about anything too personal during lunch, but she did ask me my intentions toward her best friend. I had to remind her that I was her brother and not the enemy, but promised I’d take special care of Rachel’s heart this time around.
“Last time you shattered it. I know we’ve never really discussed this, with the two of you being so hell bent and kept me under your gag orders, but she was devastated. She was merely a shell of herself, and I missed her during that time. She couldn’t bear to spend much time with me. I reminded her too much of you. Don’t take my friend away again, Dunc. She’s all I’ve ever had, and I love her as much as I love you. Hell, I’ve known her nearly as long.” The two had been friends since they were in diapers and were each other’s first friends.
“No worries. I’m in love with her, always have been, and things are different now, Sis. There’s no one and nothing standing in our way.”
She’d been content to let lunch end on a different subject, and as we discussed what to do with the remainder of our mother’s things, the last couple of things we’d been holding onto simply because getting rid of them would have made it all too real. Since we were both in a better place, we could make a clearer decision about it, and agreed that it was time to sell the house.
I’d gone back to the set only to find that Rachel had left for the day and Jefferey, who seemed a bit worried that she’d claimed to have gotten ill at lunch, even though she hadn’t eaten anything, suggested I go check on her. I told Patrick I was heading out for the day and hurried to her house.
I sped over and banged on the door, and it took a moment, but I heard her footsteps and the lock. She opened the door and fell into my arms.
“What’s the matter? Are you sick? Hurt?”
She shook her head, but I picked her up and carried her to the couch where I sat, holding her in my lap. She settled against my chest and rested her face in the crook of my neck.
“Please don’t be angry with me.”
“What happened?” My voice was harsh as she went still in my arms.
“Brock made a pass at me. He had asked me to stay at lunch, but he only wanted to see if I’d sleep with him.”
“Did he touch you?” I pushed her off my shoulder and captured her face in my hands. “What did he do, Rachel?”
She shook her head to play it off, but I could tell by her expression, the hard set of her lips, that she was upset. “He grabbed me and kissed me, and I pushed him off. I stomped his foot and elbowed him, and he got angry and screamed at me. He said he’s going to see to it that I never work in the business again and that I should reconsider.”
My blood was boiling by the time she finished telling me, but I wasn’t angry with her. I pulled her close and told her it was okay, not to worry about a thing.
She pulled away and met my eyes. “Duncan, promise me you won’t do anything. Harris really wanted this deal to work out, and I’m okay. I left right after it happened and was only scared of what you might think—”
“What I might think? Jesus, he’s lucky I don’t hunt him down and snap his scrawny fucking neck.”
She kissed my mouth, and I claimed her with a little more force than usual, reminding her how a man, one that truly loves her, could kiss. But I knew I needed to calm her nerves, to stop her trembling.
“I promise I’ll behave. But, so help me, Rachel, if he steps one toe out of line again, one fucking pinky toe, I’m going to lay waste to his entire fucking world, and Harris can eat shit.” She nodded and lay her head on my shoulder, and I rocked her against me until her trembling stopped.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - RACHEL
My nerves had finally settled, and I had almost fallen asleep in his arms. I could lay there in his comfort forever, but my phone rang, and Duncan reached over to the side table where it was and glanced at the caller, then passed me the phone.
“It’s Jefferey. You should tell him you’re okay. He was worried about you. He wasn’t buying your excuse, and he’s the one who told me you’d gone home.”
I declined the call and put the phone on the coffee table. “I can’t explain things to him just yet. I’m not sure what this all means for the production.”
“Brock isn’t going to stop production or piss anyone off by bringing in anyone else at this point. He was just trying to intimidate you into sleeping with him. Guys like that use whatever tools they can, but trust me, he doesn’t want to screw himself.”
“I’m just worried that I’ve ruined things for Harris, and Shauna will be so disappointed if he loses Brock as a future client.”
